Saudi Arabia, WHO Announce 7 More MERS Cases, Bringing Global Total To 77

Jun 27, 2013

On Wednesday, “Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry … announced seven additional laboratory-confirmed cases and a death in a previously confirmed case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV),” RTT News reports, noting the global total now stands at “77 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS-CoV infection, including 40 deaths.” Four of the newly reported cases are among children aged seven to 15, two were among female health care workers, and the seventh case is a 50-year-old woman, according to the WHO, the news service adds, noting, “A 32-year-old man who was reported with infection from the Eastern Region died later” (6/27). “Based on the current situation and available information, WHO encourages all Member States to continue their surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and to carefully review any unusual patterns,” a WHO press release states (6/26).